A Survey of Dairy Farm Treatment Practices on Midwest Dairy Farms

Judicious antimicrobial use and antimicrobial stewardship have become buzzwords in production animal agriculture over the last few years. While these words are becoming expectations in the industry, very little is understood about their true meaning and the level of implementation of judicious use practices on dairy farms. We conducted an investigation on 85 dairy farms in the Midwest to document drug use practices on these farms. Our results indicate that most farms are doing an adequate job of implementing judicious practices, but there is room for improvement to meet expectations of regulatory officials and consumers